WHAT BECOMES POSSIBLE WHEN WE SHIFT FROM HUMAN DOING TO HUMAN BEING?

BY MERYL MARSHALL-DANIELS

For much of our lives many of us have focused our power, treasure and talent toward influencing others, but what if instead of looking outward we turn our attention inward? What if the most vital challenge and subsequently the truest contribution we can offer the world begins with going inward??What if our most profound impact arises from becoming the change we want to see and effect? This is the job of realizing our nature, the reason we were born, a way to orient and find our place in the world. This?is the work of understanding our birthright gifts before the expectations of others and the culture and values of our families and friends told us what would be rewarded or recognized.?

Discovering who we intrinsically are allows us to engage and commit to grow and discern where we are needed and what we are here to learn, absorb, process and create. Each of us is unique.?It is not only evident in our fingerprints but also in our thoughts, feelings, and sensations. When we are aligned within ourselves, when we live with integrity, committed to realizing our gifts in the world we are nourished.?

As we emerge and develop from infancy to adulthood we are often instructed in the ways of the world. We learn what is effective to survive, to conquer or control aspects of our lives. Yet as we adapt or implement what we have been taught, many of us use our will to override our instincts, our inner voices, the divine wisdom that has been instilled in us. Then, when our will is exhausted we can find ourselves depleted, disappointed and lost. We often judge ourselves as lazy or weak or stupid. We lack self-confidence and struggle to find direction or even see the choices available to us.?

In moments like these I take myself back to nature. I see the remarkable ways that animals, insects, plants make their way forward. I am reminded that deep within each and every cell is the innate knowledge of how it is to grow and develop to express the purpose for which it was created. We possess this innate knowledge too, and the time is now to find our way to listen, explore, allow our deep voices to be heard. In listening and tending to our hearts and our souls, i.e. to the essence of our being, we will find our way. This is the work of being human. Now more than ever the world needs us to take up this work to bring forth our wisdom and manifest the care, love and insights we possess. We are being called to become the fullest expression of ourselves, to be who we were meant to be when the forces of nature came together to bring us here, in this moment in the history of the universe.

FutureWomenX is a global collective of women leaders who dare to craft a life different from dominant expectations and norms, and co-create new narratives and more generative, equitable, and sustainable models for our lives, careers, and organizations. Learn more at?futurewomenx.com.